1. Flail chest: Monitor pulse oximetry and blood gases, intubate and ventilate if there is hypoxia or respiratory distress. Consider early intubation in elderly or severe multitrauma patients. 2. Open, sucking/blowing wound in the chest wall: Do not suture or pack before thoracostomy tube insertion. Danger of tension pneumothorax! A Square gauze taped on only 3 sides can be applied while preparing for chest tube insertion. 3. Tension pneumothorax: Initial decompression with needle insertion through the
Platelets should be transfused at a rate of 10 milliliters per minute for approximately 30 minutes, explains the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan Health System.
If for any reason your blood platelet count falls below normal, the condition is called thrombocytopenia. Normally, you have anywhere from 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter of circulating blood. Because each platelet lives only about 10 days, your body continually renews your platelet supply by producing new platelets in your bone marrow.